HWS ROCKS

by Joshua Unikel '07

Play: When most people think
about the height of music at
Hobart and William Smith,
it peaks before CD’s replaced
cassette tapes. And for many, the
“good old days” play back in mind
like the warm, complex sounds
of a 33. But the truth is, since the
Colleges started kicking out the
jams in the Sixties, the show hasn’t
stopped. Instead, student bands
and outside acts just keep coming
to Geneva, including some of the
biggest names in music throughout
the decades. And as the Colleges
press on into the 21st century with
a newly awarded New York State
Music Fund, the show won’t stop
anytime soon.

Rewind: Cue the needle,
rewind the cassette and
spin the iPod back to the
tunes of the Sixties, a time
when the names Dylan, Hendrix,
The Beatles, The Who and Sly and
the Family Stone were all used for
the first time as they released their
debut albums. “The first time I
heard Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin,
Steve Miller, The Mothers, The
Moody Blues and The Youngbloods
was on records in dorm rooms,”
recalls William Ryder ’71, P’07. “I
remember arriving on campus in my
parents’ car at Sherrill Hall in the
fall of 1967 and watching the Lost
and Found play in front of Medbery
for fun. Manny Bloom – later Eric
Bloom ’66 of Blue Oyster Cult –
was a major showman even then.”
Along with Bloom’s Lost and Found,
other well-known campus bands
of the late 60s/early 70s era were
White Trash, T Rocket, Blind Orange
Julius, Peter and the Prophets
and Room Service.

As for national acts, the era
brought many up-and-coming artists
to campus. With concerts still
held in Bristol Gym, students sat in
the bleachers or looked on from
the tarped floor for shows by The
Youngbloods, Richie Havens, B.B.
King, Iron Butterfly and Leon Russell
and the Shelter People. “I remember
seeing The Turtles play in Bristol
when the cheap PA went out,” said
Ryder. “And I’ll never forget seeing
Chuck Berry play with a backing
band of Hobart guys; he’d prepared
them by simply telling them
that they were going to play some
Chuck Berry tunes.” Like Ryder,
anyone who still has memories from
the Sixties, feels that “choosing one
favorite is impossible!”

Choosing a favorite was also impossible
in the Seventies. “We were
all very fortunate at HWS in the late
Seventies as the bands that toured
the upstate NY college circuit were
either well-established or up-andcoming,”
says Ruth Teague ’77,
P’02, P’04, P’07, now associate
director of Admissions. “To see the
likes of Billy Joel, Bruce Springsteen,
Bonnie Raitt, Livingston Taylor as
well as Frank Zappa was simply
amazing.” During the decade that
gave life to disco and prominence to
many soft rock and R&B artists, two
musicians always stand out: Billy Joel
and Bruce Springsteen.

“I was a freshman
in 1973,
and we had the
opportunity to
hear Billy Joel in the
winter,” Hal Whitehouse
’77 says. “The
concert was in Albright
Auditorium…8 p.m. for
Billy Joel and 9 p.m. for
Livingston Taylor.”

Like Whitehouse,
Katie Coleman Nicoll
’74 was at the show. “I
remember when Billy Joel
played at Hobart and William
Smith,” says Nicoll. “It
was the first time I had been
to a concert. I was hooked.
What a memory – just like it
was yesterday.”

“The cost of the show
was $2.50 if you bought
your ticket at the door
and $1.50 if you paid in
advance!” Whitehouse
explains with a laugh.
“Though we didn’t know
what a star Billy Joel
would become at the
time, he put on a fabulous
solo concert and blew away
the ‘headliner’ Livingston Taylor.”

Teague, who sat in the second row during the show, says, “What
an amazing concert. I still can’t bring
myself to see him perform in a
mass market medium like Madison
Square Garden. Instead, I’ll savor
the memory.”

“We saw great concerts during
this period, including three shows
of Bruce Springsteen and the E
Street Band in the Geneva Theatre
(Smith Opera House),” Whitehouse
says. Springsteen played the theatre
in the fall of ’73, the winter of ’74
and mid-summer of ’75. Bruce
Eaton ’74 booked Springsteen’s
first visit to Geneva and remembers
from backstage that, “by the
fourth or fifth song, the entire place
was going bonkers.”

But the show didn’t stop with
Springsteen. “Music helped define
life on campus in the Eighties,
whether it was speakers out the
windows blaring Little Feat and
Grateful Dead during softball games
and Frisbee on the Quad, the live
bluegrass during Folkfest, Duke
Jupiter at Slattery’s, Thetes band
parties featuring Lynard Skynard
cover bands or the student Jazz Lab
playing from the steps of Coxe,”
explains Pete Buck ’81, P’12.

“Some of my great music
memories at the Colleges
were seeing 10,000 Maniacs,
Tracy Chapman and
Midori,” Sara Lacombe
’89 says.

During the Nineties,
the Colleges added
many leading names to
its list of artists, including
Blues Traveler,
Barenaked Ladies,
Dave Matthews, Phish,
the Spin Doctors and
a return performance
from Billy Joel, to
name a few.

“Blues Traveler played during a
Thetes party our junior year,” recalls
Gary Otten ’91. “We just thought
they were another great band. Who
knew they were on the verge of
becoming a world renowned act.
And the Spin Doctors—they played
on the Quad with an extended stage
coming off the steps of Coxe Hall
and a tent above them. What a great
show that was—especially the
lead singer.”

When students weren’t watching
Blues Traveler or seeing Eddie Money
at the Smith, they were checking
out student bands, like Gooseberry
Jam, Relic, The Racket and Acoustic
Mayhem. “Relic always drew a
large and motivated crowd to the
Holiday Bar,” says Otten. “They
had a lot of great stuff and a really
good original song called ‘Flip It to
the Cold Side.’” Acoustic Mayhem
also became a Geneva staple, playing
Copperfield’s and other area
venues.

As the second millennia came
around at HWS, so did an eclectic
list of artists. In the Spring of 2004,
the Black Eyed Peas brought their
dance-infused hip-hop to the Smith
Opera House. Soon after, jangle
pop band Guster played the Opera House, sending the packed crowd
into a frenzy with their catchy
singles and infamous on-stage
antics. “It was an awesome show – I
loved it!” says Allie Art ’09.

“I was really impressed by
Guster,” Teddy Desloge ’10 says.
“Their music was great, and they
put on a fantastic show.”

In 2007, music at the Colleges
and in Geneva rose to a whole new
level when HWS was awarded a
$200,000 New York State Music
Fund grant, which sponsored the
Live from Geneva concert series.
The series has already brought
several nationally and internationally
acclaimed acts, including The Wailers,
Gym Class Heroes and Talib
Kweli, to Geneva. “The Wailers put
on a truly great show,” says Frank
Leach ’11, one of hundreds of
HWS community members who attended
the fall reggae performance.

“It was old school and brought me back to my parents’ day.”

During the fall semester, Geneva’s
own alternative hip hop
band, Gym Class Heroes, played a
sold-out show at the Smith Opera
House. “I’m glad that HWS got the
Gym Class Heroes to play here,”
says Sarah Caffrey ’10. “It was
good timing in terms of
their career. It was also
nice to see the HWS and
Geneva communities come
together at this one event,
because of this performance.”

The two communities also
filled the Smith in record
numbers for Talib Kweli,
an innovative MC and hip
hop artist known for his intricate lyrics and rhythmic
dexterity. “With great music, Talib
put on an awesome show,” says
John Shaker ’10.

While they have attended shows,
today’s HWS students have also
been making music of their own.
“My favorite music memories are
from the student performances
that CAB hosts,” says Campus
Activities Board Executive Chair
and Live from Geneva Committee
member Amanda Townsend ’09.
“These include Open Mics, Battle
of the Bands and Family Weekend
Cabaret. They are all chances for
students to show everyone their
talent.” Names like Annie in the
Water, Kaleidoscope, The Tyger
Tyger Burning Bright Inside Your
Head Show, and Red Rush Morning
have made their way into the HWS
vocabulary and performance circuit.

From the jam-band style of
Kaleidoscope to the rockabilly
harmonies of Tyger Tyger, the music
HWS students make is as eclectic as
they are.

Fast-forward: Jump the
needle, flip the cassette
and advance the iPod to
today’s top 40 and mix your
playlist with today’s up-andcoming—
that’s exactly what you’ll
hear as Geneva makes its way into
the second decade of the 21st
century. What big name artist or
ambitious band will show up next?
Only time will tell, but one thing is
for sure: the show at HWS isn’t going
to stop anytime soon.